Derek woke up at 1:30 am and was sick. Wendy, so long ago you told me about those waterproof sheet liners….they have been a lifesaver these past two days, thank you!

We got his bed cleaned quick and got him back in there covered in a blanket. I then, unfortunately, had to sit up downstairs reading until the sheets were ready to go in the dryer, as we have only two waterproof bed covers we got when he was a little dude. We just keep it on the bed out of habit, but now, wow am I glad we did!
So it was a bummer I was up so late again, yet another night, but Derek slept until 9:30 this morning, so I actually REALLY got to sleep in. I’m torn! Sad he was sick again, but oooo sleep.
So today is another day at home. We are watching “How it’s Made” excerpts from the Discovery Channel on YouTube. I REALLY need to go to the store. But I don’t think that will happen until after Derek goes to sleep for the night. I don’t want to risk taking him out yet.
I also need to make a bunch of straws, I guess that will be tonight, too. Maybe during nap, if we have one. He slept so late…
So much to do, so little time when you have a little sick dude at home.

Derek woke up sick today. REALLY sick. So far he has been sick to his stomach 5 times. This hasn’t happened much so he really doesn’t like it and doesn’t get that wanting to eat and drink a lot makes it worse. I can barely keep anything in him, soon I will have to start worrying about that, liquid-wise, if it doesn’t improve. He is napping, I was up at 5:20 with him, and last night I didn’t get to sleep until 1 am since Thomas released his new EP, ‘Oceanea’ today. That means lots of lost passwords and fans clamoring to get it, and you have to be a member of his community to do so. So people forget their password, etc., and I get all those emails. It’s a rough day to be timely with that sort of thing.

Poor Derek. I just whipped up some electrolyte solution for him, a chicken soup is simmering on the stove, dunno how I will manage dinner, right now I want to just SLEEP myself. But I have to cook some…. nah. I am not. No noodles. Sleep.

It’s another rainy Sunday here in Oregon. But we will probably put up the holiday lights anyway. Last night we went out to dinner at New Seasons, a local schmancy grocery store, and Derek saw his first holiday lights of the year. He was VERY excited, and kept saying “Who else in this neighborhood has their Christmas lights up?” and “Oh that is so PRETTY!” He is so sweet. I hope we can record him saying these things. Last year what he said was “Can we find more lights?” And the year before that….not much at all since he had very few words…

I am very busy. I am doing a lot of work on Thomas Dolby’s site right now, it is deep in crunch time on that one. And I just started working on a new site, another band called the Shanghai Woolies, a local band that plays hot jazz. And I have lots to do on the website for Derek’s preschool, as that is my volunteer parent job. And of course, the beads, the glass, the straws. Plus being a Mom and a wife. Busy! Very busy. I need things to settle down, but I am not sure when that will happen. The immediate crush should slow in a few days and not be so hectic.

I’m still in my pajamas. It’s been a nice, long week of DLJ being home. We were going to go to LA for Thanksgiving but it was canceled at the 11th hour, my MIL was very sick and didn’t want us to come. So we went to the coast instead. It was nice, we had two days that were cloudy, but also partly clear, with no rain, so Derek got some beach time in, we went to the Oregon Aquarium on Thanksgiving Day, which was a GREAT day to go. There were less than 200 people wandering the whole place, it was like it was rented out for a private party or something in terms of our freedom to roam around and see very few other people.

While life is very busy right now, I am grateful for the busy. It means I have work to do, art to do, ways to help friends with their work, and a great family to be a part of.

A winner of the the Nobel prize this year, Liu Xiaobo, is currently serving in prison in China. His wife has told him he has won, but now she is basically under house arrest in her home. The news has been completely blacked out in the Chinese media.

Liu was sentenced in 2009 to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion of state power.
He is the co-author of Charter 08, a call for political reform and human rights, and was an adviser to the student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
His wife called the Nobel Prize “an affirmation of what he has fought for.”

She has a twitter account. I cannot read it, but I am following her anyway, let the Chinese see that I am aware, that I KNOW, that I am following what she writes. Someday, all of China will know. They can’t keep them under wraps forever. There are some things about globalization I do not favor, but the freeing of information, and ideas, is definitely one thing I fully support.
Her twitter is:

We are slowly getting ready to put Derek in a regular-sized bed. He has been happy in his crib, which has had the side rail off now for months, but he is getting towards the end of his time just plain fitting in it. We haven’t been in a hurry since this bed works fine, and it gives us time to figure out what we want to do next.

A few months ago DLJ took Derek to IKEA and let him play around on the beds there in the kids rooms and stuff, to see how Derek reacted to different ones, twins, full, colors, etc.

The one he liked, and after a trip there yesterday (more on that later) he still liked one that is a sort of bunk bed for one. It can be high up as a bunk or lower, but DLJ doesn’t like that when it is lower you have wasted space underneath that could be storage or drawers instead. DLJ is always very keen on best space usage, it’s his thing. I don’t know if we would even make it ever be on the lower setting, so the point is a little moot.

However, it is IKEA. I would rather have something that will last for years, look good for years. Beds are pretty important pieces of furniture, in terms of health, comfort, and as he gets older, space to relax and dream and sleep and curl up when sick…we have a lot of IKEA in our home but I am not sure I want more in his room, or for his bed.

Also, at least two of his friends, it appears, will end up with the same bed. And I was never a trend-follower. I will leave it there for now as a mystery for a little bit. Have to keep you readers around. Yeah, kid beds. What an epic topic for mystery.

DLJ and Derek went to IKEA and did a lot of other things while I had 11, yes, 11 hours to myself on Sunday. I hung out with a friend and most of it was fun (vs. work, not vs. not fun) with a little work thrown in. He is a musician and wants help with his band and touring, something I have experience with, enough that I could help, potentially. So we hashed that out a little, and I’m still interested. But I have a lot to do around here.

Here is a list of stuff in no particular order of things I really need to get taken care of. I need to make a goal list and just get through these:

Move the berry vines.
Transplant the hydrangea (this will be in Nov-ish).
Finish updating the preschool website
Paint the kitchen
Make owl cookies
Get rid of stuff in dining room
Research bed project
plant fall bulbs
finish knitting fingerless gloves
other knitting project needs to be started
keep working on other client website

1. 2 things I learned since having a kid: Sun butter sandwiches are just delicious! (Sun butter is like peanut butter but made from sunflower seeds.)
Also, life is too short to eat anything other than whole milk yogurt (in moderation). What a simple luxury.

2. I Wish my house was all decorated like my massage-therapists business location. So soothing. Not really practical in all rooms, but maybe in some. I dunno.

3. Fall is coming. We have so few fall decorations, but I had better get them out.